We Can Work It Out
The Beatles椀 Lyrics

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Try to see it my way,
Do I have to keep on talking till I can't go on?
While you see it your way,
Run the risk of knowing that our love may soon be gone
We can work it out,
We can work it out

Think of what you're saying

You can get it wrong and still you think that it's alright
Think of what I'm saying,
We can work it out and get it straight, or say good night
We can work it out,
We can work it out

Life is very short, and there's no time
For fussing and fighting, my friend
I have always thought that it's a crime,
So I will ask you once again
Try to see it my way,
Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong
While you see it your way
There's a chance that we may fall apart before too long
We can work it out,
We can work it out

Life is very short, and there's no time
For fussing and fighting, my friend
I have always thought that it's a crime,
So I will ask you once again
Try to see it my way,
Only time will tell if I am right or I am wrong
While you see it your way
There's a chance that we may fall apart before too long

We can work it out,
We can work it out

Overall Meaning

The Beatles' song “We Can Work It Out” is a plea for communication and compromise in a relationship. The singer is asking their partner to try to see things from their perspective and to work together to find a solution to their issues. The song is structured as a conversation between the two partners with the singer repeatedly asking their partner to "try to see it my way" and reminding them that "life is very short, and there's no time for fussing and fighting." The chorus serves as a reminder that they can work through their problems if they communicate and compromise.

The use of the phrase "we can work it out" throughout the song is intended to be optimistic and hopeful. It's a message of compromise and reconciliation, and it's evident in the repetition of those lines. The use of the phrase twice at the end of each verse and the chorus means to emphasize the repeated plea for resolution within the relationship.

The song was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and it was recorded in 1965. In addition to the romantic implications of the song, it could also be interpreted as a message for peace and unity during a turbulent time in history. The song's message of compromise and communication is intended to be universal and extend beyond just personal relationships.

Line by Line Meaning

Try to see it my way,
Understand my perspective and point of view.

Do I have to keep on talking till I can't go on?
Must I continue explaining until I'm exhausted?

While you see it your way,
You have your own perspective that I need to understand.

Run the risk of knowing that our love may soon be gone
Ignoring each other's point of view puts our relationship at risk.

We can work it out,
We have the ability to resolve this issue.

Think of what you're saying
Consider what you're communicating and its potential impact.

You can get it wrong and still you think that it's alright
Even if you make mistakes, you might think they're acceptable.

Think of what I'm saying,
Reflect on my ideas and opinions as well.

We can work it out and get it straight, or say good night
We have to resolve our differences or end our relationship.

Life is very short, and there's no time
Life is brief, and we shouldn't waste it on arguments.

For fussing and fighting, my friend
Fighting and arguing is a waste of time and energy, my friend.

I have always thought that it's a crime,
I believe fighting and arguing is a crime against time and love.

So I will ask you once again
I will request once more.

There's a chance that we may fall apart before too long
Not resolving our differences might lead to separation.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JOHN LENNON, JOHN WINSTON LENNON, PAUL MCCARTNEY, PAUL JAMES MCCARTNEY

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Most interesting comment from YouTube:

@kw4224

2y↑1

You're right! Liverppol Social Services initially didn't want to pull John out of there. What happened is this:

1. Aunt Mimi initially confronted Julia and Bobby at their own home about their living arrangements (apparently, John was sharing the same bed as his parents), so Bobby told her to mind her own business and turfed her out.
2. Aunt Mimi then complained to Social Services, they paid a visit - and they saw no reason to pull John out of there either.
3. So Aunt Mimi and her father George ratcheted things up by taking the matter to a higher authority within Social Services - and they finally caved in, and John was pulled-out of there.

This was probably only meant to be a temporary arrangement until they found a bigger place. So they did, the when they went back to Mimi's place to negotiate the handover, she raised hell - so to keep the peace, Julia gave in.

Apparently, this interaction was confirmed by a cousin of Julia's first daughter who even though she was a child, was old enough to absorb the information - which was later relayed
to Julia (Junior), when she was old enough to understand what actually happened.

In a nutshell, Aunt Mimi was a control freak!

All comments from YouTube:

@baberoot1998

2y↑15

Julia...is an absolute joy. She is bright, and well spoken. Very classy, and genuine. Love her much.

@wboyle9721

13w↑3

Julie is johns sister that cant be denied i bet john missed his mother and two sisters ❤❤❤❤

@Merseyrock

28w↑5

'What adults do to children is appalling... because it suits them.' True.

@user-qm7nw7vd5s

13w↑4

Wonderful interview! 👍👍

@BasilFomeen

1y↑4

Charming woman. Theyre just a regular family. One of the reasons I'm a huge fan of John lennon is he always tried his hardest to be honest, no matter how it looked. I like his music but like the man even more. Anyway, I believe every word she says in this interview I believe she has they same trait as John, shooting for total honesty. Much respect to her

@2007christian

2y↑6

Great interview! Thank you!

@ostjysktv

Thanks! I am happy that you like it.

@vito9674

12w↑2

Excellent interview ! All the rest of the books stories and interviews are BS compared to this ! This should be viewed as the "BIBLE " about John and his life .. As the saying goes get the REAL story "Rite from the horses mouth ! VERY WELL DONE !

@ostjysktv

12w

Thanks for your nice comment!

@macintosh7169

3y↑13

Great interview!!

@jeffmoore9487

3y↑1

There's more clear and fundamental information in this vid as has otherwise accumulated in the last 50 years. I'd never heard of her.

@kw4224

@Jeff Moore My thoughts exactly! She's also written a couple of books, the latter of which she does a real demolition job on the Stanley family - and deservedly so!

@jeffmoore9487

@KW I was a Lennon fan from 62, but didn't know the back story till recent (to me) vids from Julia. Poor John. To much trauma.
John's legacy (to me) is his powerful musical urge to push or smash boundaries and kind of live out the anti war politics of 'imagine'.
The Beatle fans (millions) deserve some credit for pushing these guys to keep innovating. There are times when the distance between stars and public is minimal and a real relationship of caring and even shared purpose evolves.

@ostjysktv

Thanks! I am happy that you like it.

@lozr3792

3y↑10

Thank you for showing this, it was such an informative interview. Stig Ulrichsen's excellent interviewing skills encouraged Julia to talk without any interruptions. Julia Baird is an ntelligent perceptive lady with a very clear memory of past events concerning John and the rest of her family.
There's one thing though I find very unlikely and that is the story about Mimi taking John from his mother with the help of Liverpool Social Services citing unsuitable living arrangements. Post war Liverpool was deeply impoverished in some areas. The city would have had to deal with children left fatherless, children orphaned by war or illness, illegitimate babies up for adoption, and returning war wounded, truly desperate and urgent matters to deal with. They wouldn't have been interested in removing a healthy happy child from his mother or getting involved in a family dispute.

@bogusienombre355

2y↑8

There will always be a judge who will punish a women for not acting to a social code devised by men . John's mom was abandoned not given a divorce because why? "If I can't have her no one else can have her" that dude punished her and the sister took john because of some sisterly shit fight and she found a way to hurt her sister. Both acts of cruelty have been played 1billion times. over.

@76Bigsmile

2y↑4

In UK, it has always been pretty easy to lose your child to Social Services. It still is. Especially if your sister (or anyone else) is determined to take your child away from you. I know a few people who had all their kids removed from them, because if you have one child removed, you probably won't get to keep the rest of them. However, Julia Lennon got to keep both of her daughters, even though she gave up John and then gave up Ingrid for adoption apparently. She had a very poor judgment of men, had two children by two useless irresponsible so and so's. And here she was - no job, no benefits, the war going on and two young children to take care of. So her family had to step up. They took care of John, but couldn't have her have more and more kids for her family to take care of them. So Ingrid was given up for adoption. The next man turned out to be decent so two youngest children were growing up with their father and mother until their mother died. I think this is what happened.

@kw4224

2y↑1

@76Bigsmile

@KW Yes, this is what happened. What I’m not sure about is why Julia Lennon did’t use a chance to keep John when his father took a failed attempt to kidnap him. She managed to prevent this attempt but then handed John over back to Mimi. Maybe Mimi did have some sort of temporary/permanent custody of John after all? Or maybe Julia did want John to be brought up in the family but could’t cope with bringing him up herself, financially and otherwise?
And yes, the Stanley family (and Mimi, along with her father,was the head of that family after her mother died) ended up taking all of Julia’s kids. John was taken by Mimi, Ingrid was given up for adoption and the Stanleys also didn’t let John Dykins to keep his daughters, Julia and Jackie, after Julia Lennon’s death as the girls were born “in sin”, to unwed parents.

@ostjysktv

Thanks! I am happy that you like it.

@merseybeat1963

2y↑5

An excellent interviewer..and good interview.

@jamiefrostick4059

2y↑2

A lot of creativity and great songs came from that pain and loss

@marksimons4108

3y↑6

1.14 was funnily ironic when the John lookalike walks past as John's sister is talking about John lol🤣

@BeesWaxMinder

2y↑1

I didn’t see that…🤔

Are you sure of the timing, please?

@ostjysktv

No its a Little later in the program. :)

@francisbertolini2590

2y↑2

A sad sad story, really. Hum. RIP John. JMJ+

@henningandersen9027

2y↑2

from around 38.35 the understanding is disturbed by the Beatles-music in the background, which then becomes muzak. Apart from that a great interview. I WAS wondering all the time if she hadn't TALKED with John himself about what Yoko did to him - removing him from Julian and the rest of the family.... especially as she had said she talked 4 hours one time with him and more from then on..... finally the interviewer asks her - and she only says they talked about their mother....

@76Bigsmile

2y↑2

I know! She totally avoided the question!

@kw4224

2y↑4

Anything to do with Yoko would have been off-limits! By the early-mid 70s, John had allowed himself to be totally brainwashed by Yoko over the preceding six years or so.

@ostjysktv

Thanks! I am happy that you like it. Yes, it was music From the Stage in the Cavern, that started.

@Chinachik

47w↑2

People will start coming forward about Yoko more and more now, just like May Pang has very diplomatically done. The Yoko narrative is going to become a thing of the past. Thank goodness. Let the truth finally prevail.

@russelltimmons9169

2y↑1

Good interview.

@ostjysktv

Thanks! I am happy that you like it.

@Robert-673

12w↑1

At one point JL was the most successful and iconic human being on the planet so the road ahead was unlikely to have been normal or stable. Add to the mix the excesses he was exposed to and sought. Any further contact and influence from his remarkable sister could only have extended the thread of his higher level creativity and performance (evident during the Beatles’s time) for a lot longer. JL may have become a more complete man with greater access to his sister’s wisdom and intelligence.

@KeizerHedorah

32w↑2

sad to hear shawn isnt interested in his fathers family

@casachezdoom2588

2y↑4

English starts at 2:20

@gobbism

20w↑2

Shades of Yoko in Mimi. His relationships with women were very interesting and I see some patterns repeated.

@angelicagonzalez151

3y↑1

I think icant understand more john before the 47:39 thats totally true

@76Bigsmile

2y↑2

What this interview is, certainly very interesting and exciting. Not a lot of people can talk about John Lennon as their relative and only two people can talk about what it was like to be his sister really, so that’s unique. However I’m taking some of what Julia is saying with a pinch of salt. She is really ripping into her aunt Mimi here. Julia started doing interviews long time ago, even YouTube must have a couple of pretty old ones. And she never said anything like that back then. Mimi died over 30 years ago, why not get confrontational with her when she was still alive? Has Julia never spoken with John about how he was stolen from their mother? Or his treatment of Julian (Stig actually asked her this very question, and she ignored it!). John himself never seemed to have that problem with Mimi… I think what’s going on here is that she is just desperately trying to protect her mother, prove that it was none of her mother’s fault, John growing up with his aunt instead of growing up with his parents.
Also, her attitude towards Ingrid, the long lost sister. Julia seems to believe her, she even put her name on her mother’s headstone along with the names of her other children. That must mean that Ingrid/Victoria has a pretty solid proof that she is related to John, Julia and Jacquie. On the other hand, Julia hasn’t accepted her, not really. The way she keeps going on about how Ingrid looks nothing like them even though Ingrid does look like their mother. And between the lines, Julia is actually saying she wishes Ingrid has never came forward… No wonder Ingrid doesn’t want to keep in touch…
Stuff like that, you have to figure out for yourself, but loved the interview. Julia is a piece of John, his story. And Pete Best’s brother is a piece of the Beatles story as well.

@lozr3792

2y↑2

There's no question of Ingrid being John's sister. Julia is on her birth certificate as her birth mother. Ingrid's book is interesting, a challenge for me to read though because it's published in French. Her adoptive mother eventually confirmed that JL was her brother but wouldn't discuss anything further.

@76Bigsmile

@Loz R Yes. That’s what I was saying. It was difficult for Julia to accept the fact she has another sister. At the age of 50, perhaps that’s too huge a news and too huge a change. But she certainly did accept that fact, happy or not happy about that. Which means there was an evidence she couldn’t argue with.
And as I said, no matter what Julia says, on some pictures Ingrid really looks like her mother, while John, Julia Jr and Jackie all look more like their fathers.

@silentwitness4843

@Mimi John I haven't seen Jackie. But yes, this woman and John look like their father. Sure does. I've seen pictures of Alfred in books, not online. I've also seen fake pictures making the rounds in the internet if "Alf". Now I know why.

@76Bigsmile

1y↑1

@silent Witness Julia and Jackie's father is John "Bobby" Dykins. I can't place the picture of him with one of his daughters here, but it can be found on the internet, and you can see the resemblance. The two sisters were registered as Lennons first because their mother was still officially married to Alfred Lennon, she never divorced him, but then they took their father's surname so that their parents could get a council house as unmarried couples could not do that(Julia explains that in this interview). To me, Victoria/Ingrid inherited more of Julia Lennon's facial features that any of her other children did.

@silentwitness4843

@Mimi John have you ever seen a picture of Alfred Lennon? Not on the Internet, in a book?

3 More Replies...

@sweetbabyjesus6516

John’s mum gave him away. She repeated it later with a daughter so the simplest explanation was that his mum had the evil streak!

@76Bigsmile

2y↑5

She didn't, but she had a very poor judgment of men. Her husband, John's father, disappeared, and because of that her benefits were stopped. And he was hard to trace so she couldn't divorce him and marry someone else, either. The next man, Ingrid's father, disappeared as well, because he wasn't happy to take on her child from previous relationship, apparently. Julia's family were angry with her because she kept having kids by some useless, irresponsible men, so they took John and made her give Ingrid up for adoption. It was third time lucky for her, at least her youngest daughters' father was decent.

@arynbw32

2y↑2

John moved to America in 1971

@76Bigsmile

2y↑2

Julia does confuse dates sometimes, she even got the years when her kids were born wrong apparently.

@davecooke7868

2y↑6

No wonder John was F—-Ed up

@awesomeartdigital6077

2y↑3

This interview must have been before she knew there was another younger sister named Victoria Lennon but her name was changed to Ingrid Pedersen that their Mother gave up for adoption.

@76Bigsmile

2y↑1

Did you see all of the interview though? She talks quite a lot about Ingrid/Victoria towards the end of the interview.

@kw4224

Interview conducted in 2016. She met the Victoria in 1986 - and may well have been aware of her existence earlier than that. John was aware of the fact in the early 60s - and even hired private detectives to locate her. Unfortunately, they were looking in Norway - she was in Liverpool all the time. It was the fact that her adoptive father was a Salvation Army Captain was originally from Norway, that threw them off the trail!

@76Bigsmile

@KW Did you guys even listen to the interview or listen to it up to the end? Julia is saying that she knew nothing about Ingrid until 1996, which makes sense as that’s when Ingrid came up with her story, which she did after her adoptive parents passed away. And Julia is also telling about how she first met Ingrid, it was when the English Heritage plaque was installed on Mimi’s house, that was in 2000.
Julia claims she only lost contact with John for a while when he left the Beatles and moved to USA, they talked to each other regularly otherwise. Surely she would have known if he was searching for their long lost sister. Besides, it was Mimi and her father who decided Ingrid had to be given up for adoption and I don’t think she would allow any mention of that. Mimi died in 1991 and Ingrid lost her adoptive parents by the early 90s as well so that’s when this story resurfaced.
Plus, Julia mentioned passing away of Pete Shotton, John’s school friend, and that happened in 2017, so the interview didn’t take place in 2016.

@kw4224

@Mimi John I stand corrected on the date they met - it was indeed in the year 2000, at the English National Trust dedication ceremony for John's childhood home at Mendips. Victoria/Ingrid actually came out of the closet in 1998, after her mother died.

John Lennon's search for his 'secret' half-sister has been well-publicised in recent years (though clearly not at the time). It was his Aunt Harriet who spilled the beans and told him way back in 1964 (presumably 'in-confidence', which would explain why his other 1/2 sisters were unaware of this)

Again, my bad on the actual year in which the interview was held - based on a Beatles fan page post on Facebook, it was probably counducted around 2019.

My commentary was primarily directed @Awesome Art Digital, in that the interview was conducted many, many years after Victoria/Ingrid came out of the closet, and therefore Julia has been aware of this for a long time.

@76Bigsmile

@KW Still remains just a theory for me. John and Yoko were searching for Yoko’s daughter quite publicly when she was kidnapped by her father, Tony Cox. Why wouldn’t John look for his sister publicly? And it’s hard to imagine how aunt Harriet just let slip about Ingrid, that’s too huge to just let slip about. All the Stanley sisters were obeying Mimi and Mimi wanted everyone to keep quiet about this story.

@lynnhubbard844

22w

that family and their messy hair! This is the 3rd interview I've seen with her

@michael-dr3dj

13w

YOKO AND MIMI ARE PRESENTLY CO- CONSPIRITITERS BUT NOBODY KNOWS FOR WHAT, WHERE OR WHY ,,,,,, 🤔

@sallyraynor8984

2y↑1

She was only half related to John Lennon but she wants to to forget that, always referring to herself as 'John's sister'. She like his money and gifts and was put out that he didn't give her a house that she asked him for.

@76Bigsmile

2y↑10

If you share a mother or a father with someone, you are their sister or brother. And that's it. Julia also grew up with John around, too, their mother wasn't actually banned from seeing her son.
It was John's idea to give his sisters a house. He was generous like that, once he just bought one of his friends a business, absolutely out of the blue, just because he found out that business was the friend's dream... But Yoko got rid of the house intended for John's sisters, simply out of spite, because she hates his family. Yoko is definitely the one who doesn't want to share John (or every penny of his money!) with anyone.

@Merseyrock

28w↑2

@@76Bigsmile I read about that... The supermarket he and George bought for Pete Shotton. It's a shame that his sisters didn't get the house...

Generous? I suppose but, then again, when you become as successful as they did, and the early excitement from your success wears off over time: Perhaps the only way find lasting meaning in it may be (cliche as it may sound to say), by way of adding value to the lives of those close by, i.e. your relatives, your friends, your community...